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My first contact with Dr. Hannes was about ten years ago during a J-PARC experiment. It was then that Hannes brought his SSD to J-PARC, marking the beginning of our professional relationship. Over the years, I had the opportunity to communicate with him on various occasions, and each time, I was reminded of the qualities that made Hannes truly exceptional.
One of the most striking characteristics of Hannes, as many of his friends and colleagues would agree, was his warm and humble attitude. Despite his profound expertise and accomplishments in the field of physics, he always approached others with kindness and respect. He never hesitated to share his knowledge or offer his support, making him not only a brilliant scientist but also a truly decent human being.
We have lost not just a smart physicist but also a wonderful person who touched the lives of many with his generosity and grace. His presence will be deeply missed, but his legacy will continue to inspire us all.
Dear Hannes, may you rest in peace.
I am deeply saddened by the loss of my dear friend, Hannes-san. I will always cherish the memories of the times we spent together, especially those evenings when we enjoyed a good time together. I only wish we could have shared many more. Many thanks, Hannes-san.
Lieber Hannes,
es war ein Privileg Dich kennegelernt zu haben.
Du wirst vemisst.
Ruhe in Frieden.
Klaus
Learning about Hannes’ passing two weeks ago was deeply saddening, especially since thinking about him brought back so many joyful memories:
Memories of a wonderful colleague who was always supportive and enthusiastic. A colleague able to motivate people even when things did not go as intended. Hannes seemed to have chosen this positive attitude as his way of life and this is probably what made him so very special and likeable.
Having had the honour of learning from and working with him for almost a decade was an experience I will never forget.
May his loved ones find comfort knowing how much of a difference he made to the lives of so many students and colleagues.
“Thank you for everything, Hannes!”
Oswald
The news of Hannes’ passing leaves me with deep sadness. We are losing not only a great physicist but also an exceptional person. I had the pleasure to work with Hannes at SMI for several years and it is impossible to describe by words how much support, help and knowledge he gave and how many great moments we shared at work and aside from work. Every single moment together with him in the laboratory you could feel his burning passion for what he was doing.
I met him just a few weeks ago when he was already undergoing treatment. Even in these difficult times he was exactly as I had remembered him from our common times at SMI: kind, humorous, always in good mood, interested and curious, full of optimism and extremely passionate about his work, physics and newly upcoming projects.
My sincere condolences to family, friends and colleagues.
Many thanks Hannes, RIP.
These are very sad news. I got to know Hannes many years ago when I started my diploma thesis. He was always so nice, helpful, and immensely competent. For IMEP/SMI he was, scientifically, perhaps the most valuable "human resource". It is so sad to think we will not see him again. This is a great loss both for particle physics and for all his friends and colleagues.
Farewell, my dearest friend
Addio, amico mio!
23rd of July is one of the most shocking days of m, my beloved friend Hannes Zmeskal passed away. I talked with him by phone only a few days before – and, as usually, even if he was not well, he told me that he’s doing fine, he’s under treatment and he was looking forward to meet again soon.
I cannot believe that the last time we met, in December 2023 in Tokyo, would be our final one. I want to remember you just as you were then and all the year I knew you: full of life, joy, and optimism like no one else!
For over 25 years, we were not just colleagues but close friends, sharing countless adventures together. Our friendship was a pillar of my life, and I don’t know how I will go on without you. You were not only an unparalleled physicist but also a kind, joyful, and wonderful-hearted person. Always with a good word, a smile, and an endless optimism, you brought light to every situation, even the most challenging ones.
You were a world-renowned expert in cryogenics, a master of mechanics and radiation detectors, and a true genius in technology. But beyond your professional excellence, it was your humor, your endless curiosity, and your ability to find the beauty in every situation that made you truly unique. You were one of the few who added life to years rather than just years to life.
I remember one of the first times we met, over 25 years ago. You had come from Vienna to Frascati to start working with our group. You were so cheerful and full of energy, and you told me that you planned to take apart our entire apparatus and rebuild it from scratch, down to the smallest details—screws, bolts, everything! I was terrified that you wouldn’t be able to put it back together, so I followed you around, taking notes and making drawings. But I couldn’t keep up; it was too complicated, and my sketches looked like something out of a Picasso painting. You laughed and encouraged me, assuring me that it would all be useful. I was in despair, not understanding any of my notes, but you always had a reassuring word.
You once told me that you had considered becoming a neurosurgeon, but couldn’t stand the sight of blood, so instead, you became the "neurosurgeon" of our most sophisticated equipment—a unique and irreplaceable talent. I could write a book about our adventures: the time our entire experimental apparatus fell, but it was so well-constructed that it didn’t get a scratch; your magical calculations of the gas density we were using; and those fine adjustments that were more art than science—always done by you.
Hannes, your spirit, your endless curiosity, and your ability to save the day, time and time again, will be deeply missed by everyone who knew you. You were loved by all—whether in Vienna, Japan, Frascati, or anywhere else in the world. Part of me is gone with you.
RIP, dear friend.
It is extremely sad news to learn of the passing away of Dr Johann Zmeskal. Apart from being an internationally excellent scientist, covering with his extremely valuable research, a broad spectrum of interests, from fundamental physics analysis to instrumentation, he has also been an extremely nice and kind person. A very valuable and cultured colleague, who will be greatly missed. I have had the opportunity of appreciating first hand his scientific excellence and capabilities and skills during my membership in the scientific advisory board of the Stefan Meyer Institute.
This was very sad news, indeed: with Hannes Zmeskal, we lost a great physicist, an instrumentation wizard, and an exceptional person. I first met him when giving a seminar at SMI which ended with a lively discussion in a restaurant late in the evening. We later met regularly during my visits to SMI as a member of the SMI Scientific Advisory Board. I was looking forward to his reports – there was always an element of surprise, a novel method, a new twist to an established technique, or an interesting result of his research.
Mein herzliches Beileid an die Familie, Freunde und Kollegen.
I am shocked by the sudden passing of Hannes and I would like to express my sincere condolences, also on behalf of my group at HEPHY.
It was with deep sadness when I received the news of Hannes' passing, it left me speechless.
Hannes was one of the most important persons during my academic development; he was a supportive mentor, an incredible smart physicist, a prudent (and patient!) teacher and a great friend. He will always be part of myself, how I handle things or how I think about problems or solutions.
I will miss you. Rest in peace.
ever since I heard that you had left this world, I have been speechless.
From the moment I came to you to ask you to be my mentor to the moment you congratulated me on my Master's degree, you were my great support and someone who pushed me to work hard.
Working with you, having coffee with you was a great honor!
Thank you very much Hannes. I will always remember you as a wonderful person and a great mentor.
My deepest condolences to your family.
I will never forget the moment I met Hannes for the first time. Together with Constanze, I was at the entrance of SMI when it was still at Boltzmanngasse, and we were unsure where to go. A man brushed past us, out the door, onto the street, looked around, and came straight back in. It was Hannes. He was looking for his new Bachelor students, scheduled to arrive and start their theses that day. When he realized who we were, his face lit up with a warm smile. I had been so nervous to meet him, the great knowledgeable physicist, but from the very start, he made us feel welcome and at home at SMI.
I can truly say that I would not be the person I am today without Hannes. He shaped me as a physicist by teaching me invaluable lessons in the lab, giving me the opportunity to work at CERN for a summer, and supporting me in every possible way when I applied for a PhD.
But more importantly, he shaped me as a human. His kindness and patience towards students is something I try my best to emulate with mine. His extensive knowledge of art, literature, and music has inspired me to improve my own. I cannot look at a Thomas Mann book without thinking of him.
We have lost an incredible human. My deepest condolences go out to his family.
Hannes freundliche Art und sein gutmütiges Wesen sind mir noch heute die wahrscheinlich liebste Erinnerung an die Arbeit am SMI. Unsere Lebenswege sind nicht sehr lange parallel verlaufen, aber trotzdem trifft mich die Nachricht, denn er war jemand der sich Zeit genommen und die Menschen gesehen hat. Schade das er nicht mehr da ist.
Herzliches Beileid an seine Familie.
It was deeply saddening learning that you had left us for good. Your smiling face and enthusiasm is well imprinted everywhere in SMI. You were always there ready to help everyone who asked for help and I certainly got to learn a lot from the few instances I worked with you.
I hope every time you look at us from wherever you are, you keep smiling the way you always have.
Hannes' very sudden illness and swift passing came as a great shock to all of us. His loss has left a hole in the institute where he did so much work and taught so many people. His heart was in his work until the last and his numerous contributions will be remembered for many years to come.
The best memory I have of Hannes was working with him at CERN during 2021, his energy and enthusiasm was like a breath of fresh air for a team already at exhaustion point. He helped us to push forward and get our experiment finished, and I know he has done the same for many others over the years.
bye Hannes.
Ich durfte Hannes vor über 20 Jahren kennenlernen, als wir die ersten Schritte für Experimente an einem Hochenergie-Speicherring für Antiprotonen an der GSI unternahmen ... übrigens bis heute nicht realisiert. Die Freundlichkeit und Herzlichkeit, mit der er Menschen begegnete, ist mir neben seiner wissenschaftlich-technischen Kompetenz in sehr guter Erinnerung. Man konnte in jeder Hinsicht auf ihn zählen. Er hinterlässt eine große Lücke. Herzliches Beileid.
Dear Hannes,
I still can't believe that your desk will remain empty.
I am so grateful for all your support in the last few years, not only when I did my master's with you, but also now in my PhD on a different project. You were always there for me, no matter if it was a physics discussion I needed or other advice.
We still wanted to call you and tell you that the cooling system you designed only a few months ago is working. It hurts that it was just a little too late.
I very much enjoyed sharing an office with you in the last year. I will deeply miss your interpretation of Gianna Nannini and your "Ciao everybody!" every time you joined an online meeting.
Your enthusiasm was so inspiring and I hope to carry at least a fraction of it with me.
My deepest condolences to your family.
Ich hatte das Glück und durfte 24 Jahre lang für den Vorgesetzten Dr. Zmeskal und mit dem Kollegen Hannes zusammenarbeiten. Er gab einem nie das Gefühl das er der großartige Physiker (der er war) ist und ich der kleine unerfahrene Techniker. Er war sich keinen Handgriff, keine Tätigkeit oder Weg zu schade. Oft brauchte Hannes nur vorarbeiten und machte die letzten Handgriffe direkt vor Ort beim Experiment. Er nahm sich jeden an, ob StudentIn, PraktikantIn oder unerfahrene Techniker. Unsere Gespräche gingen weit über das berufliche hinaus, er erkundigte sich immer über die Familie und ich nahm ihm das ehrliche Interesse wirklich ab. Wir haben nicht nur miteinander gearbeitet, sondern auch das eine oder andere Glas Wein im Inland und Ausland getrunken. Die Heurigenbesuche in Wien und Umgebung oder die Abende in den Cantina in Frascati bleiben immer in meiner Erinnerung.
Es gab nur wenig Menschen bis jetzt in meinem Leben wo mich die Nachricht über das Ableben so getroffen hat wie bei Hannes.
Er wird mir fehlen als Mensch, Kollege und Mentor.
Hannes was an incredible person on so many levels and the best supervisor I could have ever wished for.
Not only was he brilliant in teaching and doing research, but most importantly he taught invaluable life lessons. His passion and positivity, unbounded kindness, constant support, and unwavering believe in the abilities of other people (especially his students) were unmatched and made him an incredible mentor - without him, I would not be the person I am today.
I will treasure the shared moments and memories of him listening to various music and singing along to it with a cup of coffee always close by. The world has lost a great person too early.
Thank you for everything, Hannes. You are already deeply missed.
My deepest condolences to his family, my thoughts and wishes are with you in these difficult times.
Dearest Hannes,
The day after you left for good was the saddest day at SMI. Working in the lab, surrounded by your experiments was painful, even more as I was testing a cooling system you designed just a couple of months before.
These days I come to realize how privileged I was to know you and work with you over the past several years. You were truly one of a kind - an admirable character with tremendous knowledge in physics, treating everyone with the same kindness and respect, ready and able to help with just any experiment.
I am forever grateful for having worked closely with you at SMI and CERN,
and for your invaluable involvement in the annihilation experiments at ASACUSA.
I will miss you and your unfathomable lightness and enthusiasm in everything
you did: from daily communication to genuine problem-solving, from supporting
younger researchers to generously sharing your knowledge and expertise, from carrying
out experiments to lifting the mood whenever you appeared with your child-like
joie de vivre.
My deepest and most sincere condolences to your family.
Lieber Hannes, ruhe in Frieden.
Auf jede dunkle Nacht folgt wieder ein neuer Tag, welcher die Wolken der Finsternis vertreibt um der Sonne Platz zu machen, damit die Herzen weit werden und die Seele wieder atmen kann.
Herzliches Beileid
Bruno Leoni - pens. PSI
Hannes was one of the best people I have ever met: not only a brilliant scientist with a very sharp and quick mind, but also incredibly wonderful - warm, kind, understanding. I also had the chance to hear classical music concerts from his office during lunch breaks, when he would sing along with the musicians, being very inspired. An unforgettable experience, an unforgettable person... I am incredibly sorry that he passed away so early. I want to express my deepest and sincerest condolences to his family.
Hannes was a person with an infectious enthusiasm for research in physics, which he could transmit to young people as well as older colleagues. I had the good fortune to have had some interactions with him on PIXE experiments he performed at the Vienna Environmental Research Accelerator (VERA). He was an experimentalist of the highest standard, who was never discouraged by difficulties. This is the legacy which he left for future generations. Thank you, Hannes, for being a guiding star in our world full of complex problems.
I was lucky to have been a student of Hannes for the last 6 years. During this time, Hannes was always available for guidance, support, and advice - both in and outside of the laboratory. He was a mentor and role model to me. I cannot express how grateful I am for all the memories both working but also travelling together, and how proud to have been able to learn from him. Hannes was an extraordinary person with unmatched kindness, positivity and warmth, and he will be deeply missed. My thoughts are with his family - my deepest condolences for your loss.
I remember Hannes as such a kind and generous person with his time.
He was always there to help if you needed it. His friendly demeanor always made me feel happy when he appeared.
I was so sad to hear of his passing. Far too young to be taken away. Although I have not seen Hannes for a long time, he was the type of person who made you feel close to him even if you hardly knew him.
May Hannes rest in peace.
The very sad news of Hannes having left us are devastating. I knew him since he was working at the Paul Scherrer Institut in Villigen (PSI/CH) on muon catalyzed fusion (a seminal 1993 article with other prominent colleagues can be found at https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01027965). Hannes made substantial contributions to experiments at various facilities such as J-PARC (Japan), CERN, PSI and recently at LNF-Frascati, where his competences in hardware will be badly missed. He was a versatile physicist, always ready to listen and help, with a positive attitude towards projects, even when they were outside his own fields of interest. SMI is loosing an irreplaceable collaborator and friend. My deepest sympathies to his wife and his daughter!
Dear Hannes,
that came too soon and too suddenly to say all the things we
should have said.
But I'm sure you knew and felt it every day you came to our
institute:
You've been an inspiration to everyone for being, on the one
hand knowledgeable, experienced, practical, and full of creative ideas and
solutions. Then on the other hand a person with an unmistakable honest
warmheartedness, always ready to help and someone who could fill every room
with his positive attitude.
The gap you are leaving at SMI, I'm afraid it is too big to
be filled, even if we use all the glue expertise you've developed.
Everywhere at the institute there are the bits reminding us
of you just like the sound of deep purple's "smoke on the water".
We'll meet again in some fraction of a lifetime.
Until then you'll be deeply missed!
With Hannes we lost an unparalleled experienced researcher in the
field of exotic atoms and experimental low-energy hadron physics. His work manifested in many important publications. He was a driving force in
experiments on muon/pion experiments and low-energy kaon nuclear physics. His success in acquiring third party funding is remarkable – he was principal investigator in projects of the Austrian Science Fund and in the European research activities like Strong2020.
I knew him since 1980 when I joined a research group at Paul Scherrer Institute (SIN at this time) in Switzerland. Johann Zmeskal was a specialist of all kind
of cryogenic targets and detector systems used in experiments on muon catalyzed fusion, the nuclear fusion is resulting from the strong binding of
two deuterons or deuteron-triton using a negatively charged muon which is released after the fusion process with a high probability and can start another fusion cycle. The finding of hyperfine effects in the molecular formation was topic of his PhD work - a big success and it is published in Phys. Rev. A.
He was member of many Collaborations like SIDDHARTA and ASACUSA. In many experiments he contributed to the target system from but he was also
working on particle detector systems. Due to his experience in cryogenic and ultrahigh vacuum systems he contributed to low-energy antiproton physics in experiment at the antimatter facility of CERN.
He was a leading figure in the experiments DEAR, SIDDHARTA and SIDDHARTA2 at Laboratori Nazionali di Frascati of INFN from the beginning of the electron-positron collider DAFNE operation.
Hannes Zmeskal was finally co-spokesperson of the very successful SIDDHARTA2 experiment on kaonic deuterium spectroscopy which is after the kaon-hydrogen experiment a key experiment to study the strong interaction at lowest energies in an exotic atom with strangeness.
Hannes Zmeskal with his patient, kind and optimistic nature was always a calming pole in any of his many experiments. It has to be highlighted that Hannes was an extremely good mentor for a new generation of researchers.
Loved by all who knew him, he will be missed.
Farewell old friend ....
Dear family members, dear colleagues and friends of Hannes,
I had the pleasure to work with Hannes for the last almost 20 years. He contributed to all the experiments we built up at SMI through his vast knowledge of experiential physics and his insatiable interest in applying them to new circumstances. Even after his retirement 4 years ago he continued to spread his knowledge among many students, postdocs, and colleagues while working on his own experiments. Also in personal relations he was very pleasant, always ready to help us if needed.
Hannes was a real friend. His expertise, friendliness, and constant encouragement will be dearly missed.